Buick XP-300

The Buick XP-300, first designated the XP-9, is a concept car that General Motors created in 1951 as a counterpart to the Le Sabre, with which it shares many mechanical parts including its supercharged V8 engine. General Motors vice president of engineering Charles Chayne designed it with Ned Nickles, and it embodied the long and low design thinking of the 1950s with push button power windows and seats, hydraulic jacks, de Dion axles and aluminum body panels. Its 215.7 cubic inch aluminum V8 produced 335 horsepower and could run on gasoline or methanol, with two fuel tanks, and Chayne claimed a top speed of 140 miles per hour during testing. Together with the Le Sabre it pioneered the wraparound windshield, and it inspired the front end of the 1954 Buick line. It was refurbished in 1966 and donated to the Alfred P. Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan.